FIG. 1 (Prior Art) is a perspective view of a type of connector, referred to here as a flexible printed circuit (FPC) connector. An edge 1 of an FPC 2 slides into an accommodating receiving slot 3 in an FPC connector 4. FPC connector 4 is mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB) 5. Inserting FPC edge 1 into the slot 3 in FPC connector 4 causes each one of a plurality of conductors on the bottom of FPC 2 to be coupled through FPC connector 4 to a corresponding one of a plurality of surface mount leads 6 on the connector. These surface mount leads 6 are coupled to traces in the PCB 5 so that conductors in the FPC 2 are coupled to traces in PCB 5 as desired.
FIG. 2 (Prior Art) is a more detailed cross sectional view of the FPC connector 4 of FIG. 1. FPC connector 4 includes an insulative housing 7, and a plurality of metal fork clamping contact structures. The metal fork clamping contact structures are typically stamped out of a sheet of metal. One of the metal fork clamping contact structures 8 is illustrated in FIG. 2. One end of structure 8 has a spring beam 9 and a stiff support portion 10. When the edge 1 of FPC 2 is forced into slot 3, the FPC 2 forces the spring beam 9 down such that the spring beam pushes on a conductive surface on the bottom of FPC 2. FPC 2 is therefore clamped between spring beam 9 and the stiff support portion 10 of the metal contact. Stiff support portion 10 ensures that over time the upward force of spring beam 9 pressing on FPC 2 does not distort the softer plastic insulative material of housing 7 and cause the connector to fail. The other end of structure 8 forms surface mount lead 11. Surface mount lead 11 is one of surface mount leads 6. FPC connector 4 involves many such metal fork clamping structures, disposed parallel to one another as illustrated in FIG. 2.
FIG. 3 (Prior Art) illustrates how FPC connector 4 is fabricated. The metal fork clamping structures are slid in the direction of arrow A into the insulative housing 7 of connector 4. Insulative housing 7 is typically a single piece of plastic material.
FPC connectors of the type illustrated in FIGS. 1–3 are used in numerous applications in electrical equipment. For example, the liquid crystal display (LCD) screen of a laptop computer usually is disposed on a hinged cover panel of the laptop computer whereas the keyboard and CPU of the laptop computer are disposed in the main lower panel to which the cover panel is hinged. Information to be displayed on the screen is driven from the electronics in the main lower panel, through the hinge, and to the screen in the cover panel. An FPC extends from the main electronics in the main lower panel, through the hinge, into the cover panel, and into a receiving slot in an FPC connector in the cover panel. Through the electrical connections provided by this FPC connector, the electronics in the main panel communicates information to the LCD in the cover panel so that the information can be displayed on the LCD screen of the laptop.
With larger and higher resolution LCD displays being used in laptop computers, there is a need to communicate higher and higher speed signals through the FPC connectors in the hinges of the laptop computers. The FPC connector of the type illustrated in FIGS. 1–3, however, does not have good performance characteristics for signals above approximately one gigabit per second. An improved FPC connector is desired.